Red Cloud Memories
by twilit angel
Summary: R.w.w.F sequel. Sasuke and Katy never thought their lives would cross again until Sasuke is captured by the Akatsuki and Katy unexpectedly returns to the Naruto world. Fate has more plans for them when they are forced to work for the Akatsuki in order to stay alive. Will working for the Akatsuki change fate once more? Or will they be destined to lie six feet under the ground?
1. The Stalker

**Disclaimer for all chapters: I own none of the characters except for some OCs.  
**

Chapter 1

He was sure he was insane when he accepted this mission. That moment he accepted a mission no one else wanted he must have been insane. Even Kakashi was offered this mission, but he had another mission to do after he recovered from his injuries. Actually, now that he thought about it Kakashi recommended to Tsunade that he should take it. Said it could be a chance to "sharpen his stealth skills."

_Stealth, my ass. He just too lazy to do it himself._

Sasuke Uchiha quietly snorted from his hiding spot on the ledge of a tall building. The rain pelted him delicately from his perch as he hid in the shadows. It was at this time he thanked God Sakura reminded him to pack a rain coat. Had he forgotten, he would be soaked to the bone now. Hell, he would be sick by now. Then again, he would have to be a complete idiot to forget a rain coat when he was visiting Amegakure.

Visiting? Yeah, right. That's a civilized way of putting it. It was more like spying. That's the proper shinobi word. Stalking was the proper term for creepers and weirdos. Sasuke was on an A-ranked mission to spy on the recurring threat to the ninja world.

The Akatsuki.

At first, they were more of a stay-on-the-down-low group. They accepted jobs such as assassinations and other random jobs no other shinobi in the world would take. The whole cloak and dagger package. They weren't a major or immediate threat…until now. They finally showed their true purpose over a month ago.

The Akatsuki finally made their move when they went after the Jinchurriki of Suna, who was also the Kazekage, Subaku no Gaara. They captured the Kazekage and succeeded in extracting the tailed beast he held within him. Luckily, a team from Konoha was sent to rescue him only to be too late. However, they still managed to retrieve Gaara's corpse from their grasp. The team failed in killing the two Akatsuki members who captured the Kazekage as they escaped before the Konoha team could deal their final blows. The only reason the Kazekage was alive today was because of an old woman named Chiyo, an elder of Suna. Chiyo used a reanimation jutsu to bring him back to life in exchange for her own. Ever since that incident, the Akatsuki were considered dangerous.

Thinking this, Sasuke realized he wasn't insane to take this mission after all. It was Team Kakashi-his team-that went off to help Gaara. He wasn't there to help them since soon after they passed Kakashi's bell test with flying colors he was told to go on a different mission. It wasn't until a few days after he returned at the same time they had did he find out. His good friend, Sakura Haruno, told him what happened. Sakura also told him she had to fight an Akatsuki member with Chiyo. Halfway through the fight, the member known as Akasuna no Sasori escaped from the fight for some reason before they could deal damage. But, he left Sakura with a stab wound in a vital area with a weapon laced with poison. Sakura lived because Chiyo gave up some of her life force for her before she died.

Sasuke was pissed when hearing this. Part of the reason he was on this mission was to get revenge on Sasori. He was going to burn that bastard's puppet body like the firewood it was. Might as well. It would help relieve the stress of trying to exact revenge on the man's former partner, Orochimaru.

_Orochimaru…_Ugh, he despised that name with the fiber of his being. Since he was twelve years old, he hated the man for many reasons. There were two main reason why he despised him. One, he almost marked him with a curse mark. He would have been his next body if not for another friend to stop him. And two, he experimented on his best friend. Orochimaru played with her very DNA to get what he wanted. He swore revenge the moment he also made her contract a disease that could kill her.

His thoughts took a turn for the worst. Sasuke started to think about his first best friend. The person he hasn't seen in nearly three years.

_Stop it! Don't think about her!_ he reprimanded himself. He shook his head to rid himself of the oncoming depression that followed that line of thoughts. Almost three years have passed since then. No matter how much he wished for it she was never coming back. Never will and never would. He would never see her again.

Sasuke focused on the task at hand to avoid his thoughts of her. He turned his eyes to the bar he saw two men wearing black cloaks with red clouds. He had information that their HQ was in Ame, which was why he was here. Upon coming to the city he scouted out information about the Akatsuki here. Apparently, the people held them in high regard. Their village leader, Lord Pain, allowed the Akatsuki to stay in the village as they helped them win their civil war. Lady Angel also approved of them because she, too, was a member of the Akatsuki. Or so they said. It was a complete honor to see the members in the city. Unsettled by the information, Sasuke wrote down all the information he gathered about their Lord Pain, Lady Angel, and the Akatsuki sightings into a scroll. After this, he went to do some Akatsuki hunting.

It wasn't hard to find some of the members. He found the two members going through the shopping district in the lower levels of the city. It really wasn't hard to find them as they were both loud and their clothes stood out. He followed (stalked) them throughout the city once he found them, silently hiding himself in the crowd of people and within the shadows like the shinobi he was. But, he couldn't follow them any further when they entered a bar in the higher levels of the city. Oh, he tried to follow after them, but the owner of the bar was a former shinobi. He couldn't use a henge or genjutsu to enter since the old man had chakra seals at the entrance and within to cancel them out. One ninja attempted to do just that. Sasuke saw him enter the bar in a henge, then promptly got thrown out by the angry old man.

"Ain't no ninja makin' my bar a battlefield!" he spat after thoroughly kicking the man's ass out.

Sasuke didn't follow that ninja's example. He didn't want his ass kicked out into the rain. Neither could he simply enter the place without getting caught. He only recently turned sixteen. Anyone could see he was too young to even drink. So, he was forced to wait outside the bar in the rain until the Akatsuki members came out.

The wait was taxing on his nerves. They've been in there for an hour already. What were they doing? Were they drinking themselves drunk? It was a possibility. Why did people drink alcohol anyway? There was nothing appealing about it. All it did was burn the throat and leave a foul tast on the tongue. He hated to admit it, but he got curious once. Worst decision of his life. Naruto laughed at how he had a girl's alcohol tolerance until he threatened to tell Tsunade he said such a thing. The moron shut up after that. Waiting for these guys was going to be torture if they didn't come out soon. Who knew how long they'd spend drinking?

After an hour and a half of waiting, the two Akatsuki members finally walked out. Well, not so much walked. One of them, a taller man compared to his partner, stumbled out in a drunken sway. His companion had an arm on his shoulders to support him. Due to the straw hats they both had on their heads, it was impossible to see their faces. The shorter man led his partner down the street. Sasuke dropped down to the street below in an alley to follow after them like the shadow he was. They walked through the semi-crowded street of late night prowlers hoping for some fun. To be expected during the night. The dark helped assist him to follow his targets without much effort.

_This mission's going to be a piece of cake._ Sasuke smirked from under his black hood. He could go home once he got the information Tsunade wanted. Sakura was pretty worried he was taking a solo mission so far away from home. He wanted to spend time with his teammates now that Naruto was back in the village. He wanted to see how much that idiot had changed.

Sasuke tailed after them for a good fifteen minutes. The two Akatsuki members walked through the streets of the upper level of Ame towards the more abandoned part of the city. This made it harder for him to follow them. He had to hide further into the shadows as well as his chakra. Knowing the Akatsuki, they were good at sensing different chakra. The rain also stoppe, which was good for him. They walked and turned a corner. Off into the distance, Sasuke saw a tall tower, which looked to be the highest point of the city. On a sign on a wall nearby it read, _Off limits._ They had to be heading towards their headquarters.

He quickly followed after them. But, when he turned the corner he didn't expect to see the narrow alley empty.

_Shit! Where did they go?_ He could've sworn they were here. No way could they have disappeared without him knowing. He was good at tracking and was no amateur at this sort of thing. Not with the rank of Jounin he held. Running down the alley, he cautiously tried to locate their chakra with no luck.

"Hey, Danna! You were right. There _is_ a little rat following us," said a smug voice from above.

Sasuke froze. How could be so careless? He should have known this would happen. Looking up, he saw the taller Akatsuki member standing on the edge of a building. The shrouded face stared down at him and Sasuke could just imagine the smug look on his face. Shit! The speech impediment made it obvious who this guy was despite not having read the series in years. But, where his partner?

"Tch. You should have realized that yourself, brat," another boyish voice said directly behind Sasuke. It was full of irritation and annoyance.

Whirling his head around, Sasuke found his shorter target standing near the mouth of the entrance. It was difficult to tell who this one was because of the straw hat cloaking his features. Being knowledgeable about many things not even his friends knew, it was no brainer who this man was. This man was the one who tried to kill his friend and teammate.

He clenched his fists under his cloak. An uncontrollable urge to kill this man rose within him. Now, people could say Sasuke was overprotective when it came to his friends, especially the female ones. There have been a few instances where this personality reared its ugly head such as the time when a man had groped Sakura during a party they went to for a mission. Sasuke almost killed the man for such a thing to the point they almost failed their mission. That was only for a grope. When someone tries to kill his friends he would send them to hell. That's what he wanted to do now.

A voice in the back of his mind screamed, _Don't do it! No matter how much you want to kill, you _need _to get the information you gathered back home!_

This voice was right. Sasuke needed to retreat. Ame wasn't his home territory. If he engaged in a fight with an Akatsuki and somehow won, he would be killed by the enemy's ally. The information he gathered so far was too important to lose. The mission was over, much to his humiliation. He had to retreat.

Sasuke took a step back and whirled around to run out the other end to find it blocked off. The taller one jumped down from his perch to stand at the other end of the alley. All the exits were blocked unless…

"Don't even think about escaping, yeah," the taller warned. He stuck his hands into his cloak where two bags resided on his hips. Then, he brought them out to throw something into the air. They were small white objects. From what he could tell, they were clay sculptures-birds to be exact. They came to life and floated into the air low enough if he walked up the walls they would probably attack. "There's no way you can escape here without becoming a part of my art."

_Not if I can help it._ He was an Uchiha. Uchihas didn't give up so easily. If anything, Uchihas wouldn't give up even when there was no other choice but to give up. There were always choices be they safe…or life threatening. Sasuke smirked, knowing the solution to this problem.

Without hesitation and much to the surprise of his opponents, Sasuke ran up the walls. A long time ago he would have needed to concentrate to have his chakra allow him to stick to walls. Now, much more experienced, he did it without a single thought. It was second nature. He neared the clay birds waiting detonation.

"You're dead now! Katsu!" the taller man exclaimed.

Before they could explode in his face, Sasuke waved his hand. Chakra sparked from his hand into crackling electricity. As he waved his hand the electricity shot out into several sharp points like senbon needles to penetrate each and every single one of the white birds. They stopped moving the moment they did and fell to the ground, harmless. Taking this chance, Sasuke ran up until he reached the ledge of the rooftops and began running across them.

"You...! Get back here!"

"Deidara, don't let him escape," said the shorter man, whose voice was oddly still loud enough to be heard.

Sasuke hopped across the rooftops to put distance between him and the Akatsuki. Behind him, chakra surged and he heard the flap of a bird's wings. He glanced behind him and cursed upon seeing both men were now on a large clay bird, which flew straight towards him.

"You're not getting away that easily, hm!" the taller man, Deidara, said with a smirk in his voice.

Sasuke was caught off guard when something heavy attached to the back of his cloak.

"Shit!"

Realizing what would happen, he removed the cloak from his shoulders. But, he was still too late. Whatever was on his cloak exploded just as he got the cloak off. The blast sent Sasuke skidding back several feet across one roof and skipping onto another. Using the momentum he rolled back onto his feet to face the Akatsuki hovering in front of him. He winced at the small pain in his back. He managed to escape the majority of the blast, but the searing heat from the explosion marked itself onto his back.

"Hmph! Don't underestimate my art!" bragged Deidara.

"I see. So, a Konoha shinobi has come to Ame," his partner mused.

Sasuke shot him a deadly glare and Deidara suddenly froze. "Wait a minute...That's the Sharingan. You're Itachi's brother, hm!"

"And what if I am?" Sasuke retorted.

Deidara reached a hand up to remove his hat. Long blond hair emerge from underneath and a single raging blue eye narrowed back at him. He threw the hat away as he scowled at Sasuke.

"I've got a bone to pick with your brother. I wonder what he'll say when he knows I got rid of his brother for him, yeah?"

"Can you? Your power doesn't hold a fraction to mine," he said with a smirk. "Let's see if you _can_ get rid of me."

"You little bastard!"

Sasuke took this as his cue to run. He really wasn't in the mood to fight against two Akatsuki members and lose. In a two against one battle the odds weren't in his favor. All he could do was run. Before he turned to run, he saw Deidara throw more his clay creations to chase after him. He ran towards the edge of the building and dropped down onto the ground where he ran out of the alley and into the city.

He took many twists and turns in order to escape them to the point he didn't know where he was going. All he knew was to shake them off his tail. But, there must have been a tracking device on him or something because those damn clay sculptures kept following him and finding. In the form of spiders, ticks, and other insects with more than four legs they crawled down from the walls and trailed behind him. Sasuke used his first method of his _Chidori Senbon_ to deal with the little buggers before they exploded and caused the walls to tumble around him. As he sprinted through the metal pipes and small alleyways, every time they came near him he would execute his jutsu to render them useless. To his dismay this was not a permanent solution. There was simply too many of them.

Turning a corner, he was forced to slow down the moment a small shaped dragon sped towards him. Sasuke considered simply drawing his katana to slice through the thing. He scrapped it as soon as he did because he knew those things might detonate the moment he did. He didn't have time to think of a plan when the dragon was nearly in front of him and blasted itself.

In a split second Sasuke formed a seal and quickly replaced his body with a metal pipe he found earlier. The pipe took the hit. Sasuke found himself flying into the air from the blast and nimbly landing behind another building away from the eyes of his enemy. He pressed himself against the wall of the balcony he found himself on. He held his breath in case they heard him breathing. Maybe if he was quiet, they would go away. Still, he could sense them nearby. They were too close for comfort.

He was at a disadvantage, he knew this. Not only was he in an unfamiliar city he was on his own. No Naruto to come rushing in like he was some hero or Sakura ready to heal him at a moment's notice or even Kakashi to tell him he should've called for help and be all cool about it. No. This time, he was truly alone. This wouldn't have been a problem were it not for the Akatsuki. How was he going to get out of this one?

He let out a breath. He wasn't going to get out of this one. Not this time. They were too powerful to take on. Perhaps if he were fighting one of them, he may stand a chance. But, two Akatsuki members was too much, even for him.

_Finish the mission. Don't fail it,_ he told himself. Under no circumstances could he fail this mission. Shinobi rule number four: "A Shinobi must always put his mission first." He couldn't think of failing a mission as important as this. What little information he gathered from this mission was vital to at least preparing against the Akatsuki. The village needed this. So, even if he was about to be captured or killed he would finish this mission. _If I'm going to die, it'll be in the line of duty. _

Sasuke bit his thumb and slammed his hand onto the ground. A circular seal appeared on the rough cement from the center of his hand. A puff of smoke later it cleared.

"Hiya, Sasuke!" chirped a medium-sized brown hawk. It stared up at him with beady yellow eyes, yet held a spark of intelligence and mischief. This was no ordinary hawk. It was a part of the hawk summoning contract as seen by the small handkerchief tied around its talons. By the range of its voice, it was still but a child. "What'cha need me for?"

"Takano, I need you to deliver this back to the Hokage in Konoha," Sasuke said, serious. He reached into his pouch to pull out the scroll containing the information he gathered so far on the Akatsuki, laying it on the ground. "It's of utmost importance you get this to her in one piece. Got it?"

"How come I gotta do it? Are you in trouble or something?" asked Takano. It was common knowledge Sasuke only summoned him if he needed an urgent message delivered. He normally kept information to himself so he could give the message himself if it wasn't needed immediately.

"In a way. And, I need you to tell Tsunade if I'm not back from this mission in a week she can assume I've either been captured or..." he trailed off, uncertainly. Hopefully, it wouldn't come to that.

"Ooh, you _are_ in trouble." Takano nodded his head. He hopped over to the scroll and grabbed it in his talons. Jumping, he was so airborne. "Don't worry, Sasuke! I'll get this back to her. Don't go dying on us. I actually like havin' you as a summoner. You give us treats a lot and I like that."

"Just get out of here." Sasuke rolled his eyes. Geez, he really shouldn't have gone and spoiled Takano. Being the one he summoned the most, he gave Takano too many treats for a good job for completely what he asked.

"Alright, alright! Bye, bye!" With a small wave of his wing he took off into the sky.

Sasuke didn't have time to watch him fly off into the distance. Sensing something from below, he quickly shot into the air. The balcony burst into pieces in a fiery blaze. He shielded his face from the heat before it burned him. He was caught by surprise when a puppet in a black robe burst through the flames and lunged towards him, tantou shining dangerously.

He drew his blade in one quick motion, raising it to block the attack. The two swords met in a clang. However, with him being the air the puppet's sharp tip nicked his cheek. Sasuke pushed back against the puppet to get away from it. This caused the tanto to draw a thin line across his cheek. A small stream of blood streamed down his cheek. He landed on another roof while the puppet receded back to its wielder.

"As expected of Itachi's little brother," the shorter man said. He stood on the edge of a lower building. His hat was gone so Sasuke could see the youthful face framed by short pale red hair. With eyes half-closed almost lazily he gazed up at Sasuke. "You are quite skilled with those eyes of your's."

"Am I supposed to take that as a compliment?" Sasuke asked, wiping away the blood on his cheek.

"Perhaps. Yet, compared to your brother you leave yourself vulnerable."

"Take this, hm! Katsu!" yelled Deidara from behind.

Another blast came from behind him. But, Sasuke had already sensed Deidara from behind him and activated the genjutsu he prepared, casting it. He jumped back away from Deidara to a safe distance where he saw the blond bomber smirk smugly.

To Deidara he would have seen Sasuke die a horrible death with his body parts scattered and his organs lying around, fleshy bits staining the ground. It was a habit for him to allow his enemies believe he died a horrible death after he read a few of Ibiki's reports on prisoners and spies he tortured. That man could get graphic, that's for certain. So, he decided to get creative with his own deaths. It was a bit fun, if not a bit disturbing for his friends. Kiba thought he had a mental issue to do something like that. Whatever.

"Ha! That'll teach that little bastard to disrespect _my_ art! He was just like his brother, yeah. The likes of them have no appreciation for true beauty," he bragged.

Again, Sasuke rolled his eyes. True beauty? Please, he's seen fireworks have more bang to them than his flimsy explosions. Where was the beauty in that? Shaking his head, he quickly masked his chakra and turned to make a quick escape. Maybe he would survive this after all! The moment he thought this Sasuke's breath hitched. His body suddenly seized with an unspeakable pain and his muscles contracted painfully. He had no control as his knees gave out. Sinking to the ground, his chakra left his control.

The genjutsu broke and he heard Deidara curse.

"You shouldn't be so arrogant," Sasori said, speaking as if to the both of them. His voice drew closer along with footsteps. "As I said before, you left yourself vulnerable. You should have known already from your comrades about my poison. If a small amount of my poison enters the bloodstream, it is still enough to take effect."

_Shit, I didn't know that,_ he cursed. Sasuke knew the poison would be bad if it came near him, but he didn't think even a tiny amount like a nick would still affect him. He groaned as his body numbed to a point he couldn't feel anything but the pain. He couldn't move anything.

"Damn it! Damn you Uchihas, hm! You hide yourselves in your genjutsu like cowards!" Deidara cursed. He came by him and gave a swift but powerful kick to Sasuke's chest. All the breath left Sasuke's lungs. "That will teach you to mess with me again, yeah!"

"Deidara, enough. We need him alive. We must see how much he has gathered about us."

"Hmph! Fine. As long as I can kill him later. Itachi won't mind if I get rid of his little nuisance, hm. Even if, I'd do it anyway."

_Damn it._ Sasuke curled up into himself. His vision grew blurry and the world began to grow dark. All he could think of before he went into a dark sleep was, _I'm going to kill the Akatsuki._

He might if he survived this. He knew nothing more as he sank into the oblivion of his mind, the numbing sensation seizing his body.

* * *

**Hiya! Welcome to the sequel of Remembering what was Forgotten, Red Cloud Memories! Whoo-hoo! I already had this chapter written up while I was writing the end of the first story a long time ago back in high school. Bleh, it was hard to finish this chapter because of all the action. I had to look up how to write fighting scenes so I wouldn't screw up the fight. Thank God for the internet. I swear I'll do better in writing this. In the first story someone told me about problems with my character development and some issues. I'm going to address all of this in this story to provide some insight on the characters and how they interact with one another.  
**

**I really wanted to make this longer but it seemed like a good place to stop. Since today is my birthday, I wanted to get this published today as a mini birthday present to myself. Besides, I've gotten nothing else to do but to write. And thus my self-pity party while I write and watch _Bones_ on Netflix. *sigh* I'm so pathetic.**

**So, I'll go on and continue my pity party.**

**Please review!**


	2. And the Stalked

Chapter 2

_She ran through the darkened forest without abandon, her sharp breath stabbing at her lungs for more air. In her haste to get away from that monster her bare feet were caked with mud and her pajamas splattered with blood. But, not her blood. It was the blood of another. She jumped over logs, creeks, and ducked under branches, ignoring the prickling pain on the soles of her feet. Tears smeared across her cheeks from the fear penetrating through her body like pricks of needles._

_A sharp noise sounded in front of her that sounded oddly like static on the radio. Skidding to a halt, she turned her head forward in time to see a rather tall human-like being directly in front of her. This being wore something akin to a business suit. He may have been human were it not for its freakishly tall height. The height may have frightened her, but that was nothing compared to its blank face. With no eyes and only a gaping mouth...So inhuman..._

_Pure unadulterated terror gripped her by the throat at the sight of him. Oh, God! Not him! Frozen with fear, she was powerless to do anything but stare at him with wide eyes._

_The creature's long arms swung forward to grab at her throat. She gasped as she was suddenly raised into the air, with little oxygen entering her lungs, and thrown into the trees. A mind-searing pain erupted from her abdomen. Shaking tremendously, she looked down to see a long tree branch sticking out of where her stomach was. Her own scarlet blood ran down her bottom half like a waterfall. She screamed bloody terror and squeezed her eyes shut the moment the creature push her further into the tree, more of its branches slipping into her body like it was a pin-cushion._

_Oh, God! Let it end! Someone, help-_

"Kaitlyn Rivera, are you sleeping in my class?"

"No! I'm too young to die! Damn you, Slender Man!" Katy screamed. She jerked her head up, eyes snapping open and expecting to find Slender Man in front of her to disembowel her organs. Instead, she found herself sitting in her English classroom with her teacher scowling at her from the front. Everyone else stared at her as if they were about to burst out laughing. Oh, right. She wasn't running through a forest and being killed by Slender Man. She was still in school.

"Are you with us now, Katy?" Mr. Fletcher asked, irritated.

Katy laughed nervously. "Um, yes?"

"Good. Now, since you are sleeping, you must have stayed up late finishing your homework. Can you tell me why it was easy for so many adults to believe the girls or go along with their accusations? Why were they motivated to contribute to the events?"

"Um..." She quickly glanced down at her notebook, which bore an impression of her cheek where she had been napping. It was a good thing she actually did the homework last night. "The adults of Salem believed those girls 'cause some were afraid of the witches and their power while others were scared about losing personal stuff like land or power. That fear brought out the worst of the adults and made them reveal what they feared the most. So, they went along with the accusations to hide their fears and tried to get rid of them."

He stared at her for a moment like he was trying to tell if she was making all of this up. Finally, he nodded.

"Good. As Katy said, the adults of Salem were willing to believe anything the girls said in order to get rid of the witches they feared along with other personal issues that threatened them..."

As Mr. Fletcher turned away from Katy and began his lecture once more, Katy leaned back in her chair, relieved. Whew! She got away with that one. This wasn't her first time falling asleep in class, but Mr. Fletcher didn't really care as long as she did the work. Her other teachers weren't so merciful.

She ran her hand across her face, groaning. Damn it. Being the last class of the day, she was more prone to falling asleep. It didn't help they didn't get out of school until four o'clock, which wasn't for another twenty minutes. With the way her sleeping schedule was this was the worst class to be in. She couldn't help falling asleep.

_Twenty more minutes. Just twenty,_ she thought. It was twenty minutes too long.

Sighing, she settled back to start paying attention to the teacher (this time, without falling asleep) when she felt a poke at her back. Katy shifted her head to the side to look behind her and saw her friend, Salem, grinning at her.

_Slender Man issues again?_ she mouthed with a knowing look.

Katy nodded solemnly.

Salem gave an exaggerated wince and a sympathetic look before beginning to pay attention to the front of the room again. If they did not pay attention right after Mr. Fletcher caught Katy, they would be in serious trouble. Besides, Katy had a habit of telling Salem everything after class.

Twenty torturous minutes later, Katy was praising God for letting the bell ring. While Mr. Fletcher was yelling out what the homework for tonight was over the bell, Katy was already packing her things into her messenger bag. By the time he was finished, she was already out the door.

Katy ignored the usual traffic in the hallways as she normally does in favor of digging out her ITouch out of her bag. To the normal amazement of the others around her she managed to weave through the crowd without ever looking up from her bag. When she got to the school gates she had her ever present ITouch in her hand and popped the earphones in. Just as she was picking one of her favorite songs (_Grenade_ by Bruno Mars) she felt a tap on her shoulder and the presence of another by her side.

"Jeez, how do you get here so fast? I thought I would be the one waiting for you to catch up," said Salem's voice from behind her. Katy glanced over her shoulder to see Salem step beside her with her backpack slung over her shoulder. Salem gestured at her attire. "I thought those wedges would slow you down, but you keep walking like normal."

Katy glanced down at her cute summer wedges strapped to her feet to compliment her white flowery dress. Since it was technically still summer and wouldn't get hot until late September, it was still okay to wear her summer dresses.

"I'm used to wearing wedges. Besides, they look cute," she said, shrugging.

"They make you look taller, that's what they do. Without them, you're a munchkin."

"Oh, ha, ha. Make fun of my Asian genes."

Katy stuck out her tongue at Salem, who shrugged it off. Salem was a good two inches taller than her and with her wedges Katy was as tall as her. It wasn't her fault she was half-Filipino. Most Filipino women were short. Hell, she was considered tall for her age among them!

The two girls began walking towards the sidewalk to cross the street. Their high school was surrounded by houses and apartments seeing as they were in the suburbs. They came to a stop at the crosswalk where a woman wearing an orange vest was waiting for cars to pass in order to let them go.

"So, Slender Man?" Salem asked, referring to earlier. "Don't tell me that guy is keeping you up again."

"Ugh, yes! I don't think he goes away even when I'm sleeping," Katy complained. Her fingers tapped against her leg to the beat of the song in her ear. "No matter how much I stay up I can still feel him looking at me. But, I don't know where he's looking at me from!"

"Didn't you say you don't feel like he's watching you in the bathroom? At least he's polite."

"Yeah, I feel so much better knowing he doesn't see me naked." Sarcasm lined her words as irritation sank in. She really had enough of this guy. He was driving her insane!

"You know, you've been feeling this guy watch you for the past year already. How can he still stay out of sight when he follows you everywhere?" Salem asked, curiously, as they began crossing the street with the other teenagers.

"I don't know. It's like he has the power of invisibility or something, because I never see anyone suspicious around me."

"Or, he could be a ninja."

"Okay, no. Even ninjas can't stay out of sight for long. Besides, why would a ninja want to stalk me?"

Salem shrugged. "To freak you out?"

Katy resisted the urge to groan. After this past year, she wouldn't doubt it. Maybe this guy _was_ trying to freak her out.

Last year, Katy noticed she may have gained a stalker. At first she didn't know she had a stalker. One day when she was in downtown with her mother running errands she suddenly felt someone's gaze on her back. Whenever she feels like someone's looking at her the small of her back would tingle and race up her spine. So, when she felt it she looked around to see no one was looking at her. The feeling didn't go away until she was in the safety of her own home. She thought nothing of it in the morning, but when she left the house to go to school the feeling returned. The feeling persisted as days turned into weeks and weeks turn into months. It wouldn't go away no matter where she went.

Being the paranoid child she was, Katy knew instantly she potentially gained a stalker. Having a stalker was bad enough, but when said stalker didn't do _anything_ except watch her back from an unknown location it reached her paranoia limit. Honestly, the stalker didn't do anything but stare at her back all the time! Most stalkers would have approached the object of their obsession by this point and reveal themselves, but _her_ stalker decided to leave her be. As a result Katy couldn't concentrate on much except figuring out where he was staring at her from. Her grades almost dropped and she started falling asleep in class from staying up to see where he could be.

It had gotten to the point her friends noticed her strange behavior a month after she realized she had a stalker. Salem confronted her about it one day and practically forced Katy to tell her. Eventually, she did. After Katy confessed to her about her stalker, Salem said one thing.

"_You've got Slender Man stalking you!"_ she exclaimed, jokingly.

_Slender Man_ turned out to be an appropriate name for her stalker. Slender Man (the meme) was known to stalk his victims so they become overly paranoid about him. Since this is what her stalker was doing, and eventually accomplished, she started to call her stalker Slender Man. And, because she didn't know what her stalker looked like, she had the habit of imagining him just like Slender Man since he never revealed himself. This did nothing to help her fragile mental state when she started having dreams about Slender Man killing her.

Even now, she could still feel the gaze of Slender Man coming from somewhere behind her.

"You should really call the police if you want to get rid of Slender Man," Salem said, frowning as she watched Katy shift uncomfortably. The girl's strange muddy red-brown eyes scanned the area around her.

"And tell them what?" Katy asked, bitter. "'Hey, I've got a stalker I named Slender Man. Think you can arrest him? What does he look like? Well, officer, I'm not sure. He never actually showed himself. Then, how do I know I'm being stalked? I can feel him looking at me but I don't know from where!' Yeah, that'll go over well."

"Good point. I don't think they still trust you after that kidnapping story you gave two years." Salem winced at the dark look passing Katy's eyes.

"Yeah, I doubt they will. They didn't believe me and my best friend were kidnapped if I didn't know what the kidnapper looked like, so they labeled me a runaway child case."

"Well, they haven't really found a suspect. You know how the police are. Unless they have a definite suspect, they go for the obvious conclusion and that was you and your friend actually ran away."

"Too bad for them. I told them the truth so they can go suck it," Katy mumbled. Of course, _that_ was a lie as well. She told the police a false story to cover the truth of what really happened to her and her best friend. No one would believe the truth anyway.

Her chest tightened at the thought of her best friend. No, no one would ever believe the truth. The truth of her best friend being a fictional character from another dimension/reality and they happened to appear there. Yeah, right. Like anyone but her mother and Aunt Mari would believe such a ludicrous story. She almost didn't believe any of that happened to her either, but the pain she felt was real. Oh, it was real.

They soon came to the heart of some suburban houses. They came to a halt where Salem turned to the right, which led to a cul-de-sac.

"Well, I hope you figure out what to do with Slender Man soon. I don't wanna hear you suddenly disappeared with no chance of finding your remains," Salem half-joked.

"I hope It comes to your house and eats your flesh!" Katy called back.

"It only comes after small children!"

"Not if It was stalking you since childhood!"

"As if! You're the only one with the stalker here!"

"Screw you!"

"Love you, too, babe!"

Katy rolled her eyes as Salem waved goodbye. This friendly banter was their normal goodbye. Who would have thought she would be exchanging banter with her former bully? A lot could happen in three years. Shaking her head, she began to make her way home.

The walk home was as silent as it could be with the traffic sounds nearby and the beat of a Vocaloid song in one ear. The late afternoon sun sent sweltering heat throughout most of the city. Trees were a godsend as they provided some shade on the sidewalk. Katy nodded her head to a song and ignored the heat to the best of her ability. This wasn't as bad as her vacation to the Philippines over the summer. _That_ was hot. This was nothing compared to that torture even if it was over ninety degrees. It wasn't even as bad as the weather in Konoha.

She heaved a sigh at the thought of that place. Each time she thought of that home away from home, a pang would squeeze her chest. Although it's been a few years since she was there, she had so many fond memories of that place. It was where she learned how to more friendly and appreciate what she had. The friends she made there, the few happy moments she had...There were times she missed all of it. Where life was much easier and much harder all at the same time. She could live day-by-day working and living her life to the fullest while simultaneously worrying about living to tomorrow. She wasn't sure if she was a masochist to miss a place that could also cause her much pain.

_I guess it's a good thing I'm never going back there,_ Katy thought. She arrived at an intersection with traffic lights. The other sidewalks were empty as it was the end of the day, yet there were multitudes of cars speeding by on their way home. She kept her eyes on the crosswalk signal, frowning. _As much as I miss narrowly escaping death, I prefer being here. At least here I won't have to worry about getting turned into a freaky snake-man's body. All I have to do is worry about school, my future, and Slender Man._

Especially Slender Man. Her paranoia range, as she liked to call it, heightened in the past few minutes. This normally meant Slender Man was closer to where she was standing. It was an ideal chance to look around and catch the guy in the act, but she resisted. After all, Slender Man was a crafty man. He was great at hiding and fleeing to a safe distance the moment she turned around. Slender Man was surely an expert in hide-and-seek. She would have been impressed were he not using his skills to stalk her. She really must find a way to get rid of him.

The crosswalk signal began to beep and changed from the orange hand to the white stick figure walking. Katy began walking across the street, mentally plotting ways to get Slender Man off her tail. She was almost at the other side when she heard the distinct _clunk_ out of her unoccupied ear. Freezing, she glanced to the side to see something that made her heart drop.

In the middle of the sidewalk, lying there innocently, was her new IPhone. Her brand new IPhone her mother got for her just last week.

_Oh, damn!_ Katy internally screamed. Her mother would maim her if she found out she broke her new phone! And after she begged her to buy her the phone for months! That thing was worth as much as her PS3! _Oh, dear God!_

Without thinking Katy rushed back into the road despite the traffic lights turning to green. Luckily for her, most of the cars had already gone. To the best of her ability in her wedges she made her way over to the phone and bent over to retrieve the phone, quickly inspecting it for damages. After all, a simple drop could crack the screen. It was one of the things she hated about touchscreen phones. They were so fragile. Seeing it was fine, she straightened to hightail it back to the sidewalk when she heard roaring engines off to the side that were dangerously approaching.

While she was busy looking at her phone in the middle of the road, she never noticed the car turning in the intersection. She also never noticed the driver might stop but didn't because he, too, glanced down at his phone in one hand.

No, Katy looked up in time to see through the windshield the driver's head was bent and didn't look to be stopping anytime soon. She didn't have time to react and run like any normal person would.

_This is gonna hurt,_ was all she thought in that time.

The next split second was a blur to everyone witnessing what would be a horrific accident. One minute most of the drivers waiting for the traffic light to change watch a car speed towards a young girl in the middle of the crosswalk about to be hit. Yet, the next minute it was a blur even to Katy. They saw a black blur jump out from nowhere and run at the girl, tackling her out of the way. But, the moment the black blur touched the girl they vanished.

Katy, who was too preoccupied with facing death via car, suddenly felt herself be tackled from the side. Her side went numb at the sudden pain, and she turned her head to see the flash of a single red eye with strange markings around the pupil and a slightly scarred face.

_Wha...?_

She wasn't able to think about that before the eye swirled, causing her head to mysteriously feel heavy. The next thing she knew there was the odd sensation of being squeezed before she blacked out.

* * *

XXX

* * *

**And here is how Katy returns to the world of _Naruto!_ Can anyone guess who Katy's Slender Man is? Really not that hard with the hint at the end. And, I have a feeling people are going to ask me why I would use Slender Man as a nickname for Katy's stalker. I actually did my research on Slender Man. Apparently, in his earlier stories he would use trees to put his victims on branches where they would slowly bleed to death. Then, he would disembowel their organs and put them in bags. Yet, the one everyone knows today is how he appears in forests and messes with cameras before his victims disappear, never to be seen again. Scary, I know. I like his older stories better. Much more frightening.  
**

**Oh, and it's really not weird to have dreams involving fictional characters. I have them all the time and I consider them normal. My cousin thinks I'm just that weird. So, does anyone else have dreams with fictional characters in them?**

**Please Review!**


	3. The City of Rain

Chapter 3

Katy never particularly liked waking up. She felt if she was in the middle of a good dream and she woke up, it was like being denied the ending of a book she desperately wished to know what happened. So, she would have been content on lying asleep forever were it not for a few facts. Her body was freezing cold, she felt wet, and her senses were pelted by little drops across the skin of her body.

She moaned when she opened her eyes for water to drip into her eyeballs. The sudden intrusion caused her to shoot straight up to wipe at her face where water dripped from her locks. The presence of water sprang the alarm bells in her muddled brain. Wiping water from her eyes, she focused her vision to see what the problem was. The problem was presented in a way that left her flabbergasted.

"What the...?" Katy breathed. She sat in the middle of what looked to be an empty lot in the middle of a city. Tall skyscrapers towered above her, reaching the sky as closely as possible to be near the very heavens while metal pipes ran alongside their cement walls like iron vines. As far as she could see plant life was almost non-existent. Alongside the rain and dark sky, the two combined dyed the world a drab grey. Soaked to the bone, she was astonished. Where in the world was she? _What the hell happened? I didn't get drunk again, did I?_

No, she didn't remember being anywhere near alcohol. All she did remember was walking home in the heat and trying to retrieve her phone in the middle of the crosswalk. Then, that car came out of nowhere and was about to hit her. There was sudden pain like she was tackled. She started.

"Oh, God! I'm _dead!?_"

No, no, no! She couldn't be dead! Sure, she may have been run over and she was in slight pain, but she was sure she wasn't _dead!_ Looking down at her body, the only injuries she saw were the scrapes on her hands and those aren't even bleeding. So, if she wasn't dead or hurt...Where was she?

_Okay, Katy. Calm down_, she said to herself. Taking a deep breath, she attempted to calm down in order to think properly. _You've already been in some crazy situations before. This isn't the worst or weirdest thing to ever happen. At least I wasn't kidnapped again_. She winced. That was still a sensitive subject. _You need to calm down. This isn't the first time you've ended up in a weird place. All you have to do is find out where you are and go from there. Easy-peasy, lemon squeezy...right?_

As simple as it sounded, Katy had a feeling it was anything but.

She got to her feet, ignoring the pouring rain soaking her and shouldered her bag. Looking down at her hands, she was surprised she was still gripping both her IPhone and ITouch, both of which were safe but wet. However, the rain wouldn't damage them since she bought waterproof cases for the both of them. After the little pool incident that ended the life of her first IPod, Risa, her mother thought it would be best to get her waterproof cases. Thank goodness for a mother's common sense! Relieved neither of her expensive electronics were damaged, she placed them into the side pocket of her bag. Shouldering her bag, she took another deep breath and walked out of the lot to go through the city.

The journey through the strange city was rather uneventful and insightful. As far as she could see towering cement buildings surrounded her. In a few places she found walkways overlooking aqueducts and storm drains. There was a lot of water around she was certain of that. The more she walked through the drab, waterlogged city the more the niggling sensation in the back of her mind pressed. This city was so familiar somehow. How could that be when she has never been here before? It felt as though she had, at most, seen this city. Browsing through several travel articles, she must have seen a place like this before. Yes, that had to be it.

_That still doesn't explain how I got here,_ she wondered. Last time she checked she was walking through the suburbs in hot weather. Why would she suddenly end up in a raining city? She had a sickening feeling in a gut. Well, there was one way she could have ended up in a raining city slightly familiar to her. She didn't want to acknowledge that possibility yet. Not unless it was absolutely necessary and the only solution. She hoped it didn't come to that. _Please don't let that be the reason why I'm here. My sanity can only take so much! My sanity can only take so much!_

Because of what happened nearly three years ago, she doubted her sanity was intact.

It didn't take long before Katy found some form of life. Walking through the city, she thought no one lived there when she found no life form. She turned a corner to find a street full of people and she was relived. Her relief turned into fear when she saw what the shops were and how the locals dressed. Around her were shop signs written with Japanese characters, doors that slid open and that were made of of wood and rice paper, and everyone was dressed in an Asian-style or close to it. What made her heart stop and her breath hitch was the language everyone was talking iin.

They were all speaking in Japanese.

It was a language she was familiar with as she was an anime fan and she spoke it for the better part of a year. Katy paled upon hearing the short syllables meshing together. Hearing Japanese and seeing the people made her draw a conclusion-one she didn't want to face ever again.

_I'm in the Shinobi reality!_

No, no, no! Katy didn't want to be here again! Nearly three years ago, she accidentally followed after her best friend, Sasuke Hailton, into a dimension where the manga series, _Naruto_, existed. Sasuke Hailton turned out to be Sasuke Uchiha, the last survivor of the Uchiha clan and a main character of the series. In the beginning of their stay she thought being here was all fun and games if she got to change the storyline. It wasn't until events started to happen she realized this place was dangerous. For someone like her, who has only known safety and peace her whole life, this place was like a punch in the gut. It made her realize being a shinobi meant they weren't expected to live past the age of thirty. She had experienced more danger in the year she lived here than in her whole life combined. After she was sent back home by Sasuke, she hated him for it. Then, she thought things through when she was hospitalized not long after she came home she was happy he sent her back. She didn't want to live like tomorrow would be her last. She wanted to live to a ripe old age and make a family.

No, she definitely couldn't live without her mother. That year she was gone also taught her to appreciate things she had. Katy loved living alone with Sasuke, but it wasn't the same. It was as if she become the mother taking care of Sasuke. She wasn't ready to live like that until she was in college. From the age of twelve to eighteen, she expected to enjoy her childhood while it lasts. Here, she could kiss her childhood goodbye. Unlike people here, she _liked_ being taken care of by her mother.

So, realizing she was back in the land of shinobi, she wanted to cry. But, because she was near a public area, all she could manage was a very upset expression.

Katy retreated back into the alley. She leaned against the wall, her back against cold cement, and covered her face. Her body trembled unrelated to the wet rain. How did she even _get_ here? It shouldn't have been possible! The first time was a fluke since she was holding Sasuke when that weird jutsu sent them to Konoha (she theorized that jutsu had a time limit and she knew it was a jutsu since Sasuke used it to send her home. It was also the jutsu that possibly sent Sasuke to her dimension in the first place). So, how did her almost getting run over send her back here?

There were fanfiction stories where the characters were run over by cars to end up in an anime world. But, that didn't happen in real life. If they were run over, they would be dead and stuck in the anime world. Anime worlds like _Naruto_ were in a different dimension, and if that were true, there would be a version of a person in each one. If one version of that person died, then that person still lived in another alternate world. And since the laws of physics must always be obeyed no matter what the dimension was (i.e, gravity, and Murphy's law), the dimension could only handle one version of that person. The previously dead person would become that version and live that version's life instead of their own.

That meant if Katy had died in her dimension to arrive back here, she would be in her alternate dimension's body. Yet, she was wearing the same exact clothes she wore back in her dimension. She was in her own body. That meant either of two things: Katy's alternate self wasn't born yet or she was already dead.

Of course, that was all theory. After her trip here, she decided different/alternate dimensions existed and came up with theories to explain all of this. Still, if she supposedly died, how and why did she end up here of all places?

A thought occurred to her and she whined.

"Why couldn't I have ended up in a reality or dimension where the Doctor or Kaitou Kid were real?" Katy keened, exasperated. She wouldn't have minded living in their dimensions. At least everything in their worlds were similar to her own with cars and airplanes. Everyone here tries to kill each other with superhuman powers. "It's not fair! If I'm dead, at least re-incarnate me somewhere I liked! Anywhere but _here!"_

Fate was a cruel mistress that certainly didn't favor her.

For awhile Katy remained like that internally wailing over her circumstances. Had she not been focused on her self-pity, she would have noticed several locals passing by gave her looks of suspicion and disgust. As such they gave the strangely dressed and foreign girl a wide berth. In no way did she look a born citizen of their fair city. When she came back to her senses she looked back to the street in time to catch one of their looks and flushed. She had forgotten how weird her clothing was. While her dress was comfortable in mild weather, the people here preferred mesh, capris, and raincoats. None of which she had on.

Self-conscious of herself, Katy scurried out of the alleyway and into the market street with her head ducked. For once she thanked the Lord for blessing her ethnicity with dark skin. No one could see her flush of embarrassment warming her face and neck despite the cold temperature. She walked down the street with an air of indifference while avoiding touching her mind she must have looked odd like she nearly drowned herself in a swimming pool and with no rain gear on to boot. She grimaced at the thought of her hair. Her hair must have been comparable to seaweed with large chunks of it falling all over her face. This would be her usual appearance after walking through the rain on her way home. However, no one would witness this fashion disaster as she normally went straight home before anyone saw her.

_This is as embarrassing as when I had to walk through the capital city dressed like Sothe,_ she thought, miserably. Wasn't that an embarrassing day? She went downtown dressed as Sothe from _Fire Emblem_ to attend the anime convention with her friends. However, she ended up getting the date wrong and the convention turned out to be the next day. Katy had to wander around the city with a bare mid-drift for four hours until her mother got off work. Everyone looked at her weird and some idiots tried hitting on her. Thankfully, she not only looked like Sothe she could use some of his moves, all of which included a real shiny dagger. She really didn't like standing out with the kind of clothes she wore. _Okay, Katy. Find out where the hell you are and see if you can head back to Konoha. Sasuke can send me home and we'll pretend this never happened._

Katy allowed herself a smile. There was one good thing that came out of this. She could see her best friend/cousin again. Three years have been too long considering she thought of him as a brother. They've been through a lot no one else could compare to. Through much pain, they had grown close. Gods, she missed him. It was a shame their reunion would be cut short. There was so much she wanted to tell him. A lot has happened in three years. Who knew how much he had changed as well? She hoped he at least kept his common sense about his clothes. He would earn a smack across the face if he wore baggy clothes that didn't suit him at all.

She cringed at the mental image of that horrid purple belt and trousers. The moment she blinked she was suddenly knocked into by a slightly hard body. A second later she found herself sprawled on the cement ground and a slight pain on the back of her head. Some landed on her stomach to fall onto her stomach. Craning her head slightly, she saw an apple, along with several others, roll across the ground. A gasp sounded above her.

"_G-Gomenasai! Daijoubu desu ka?"_ asked a high female voice. A hand touched her shoulder.

Katy groaned. Sitting up with her hand lifting to her head, she looked up to see who spoke to her. It was a young teenage girl about her age. For the first time that day she was seeing color in the form of this girl. With her dark grey-blue eyes and her outrageously bright red hair tied in a bun this girl was rather pretty. For an Asian, that is. The rain temporarily stopped as the girl leaned over her as she held a blue Japanese paper umbrella over them. Her eyes shone with worry and concern. The girl's head tilted and Katy realized she was staring.

"Oh! Um...Uh, _Genki...desu,"_ Katy replied, uncertainly. She winced at her horrid pronunciation. She studied a little Japanese after getting home, but just the common phrases. The girl asked if she was okay, so she replied she was fine. At least she thought what was 'I'm fine' in Japanese. Still, her accent was atrocious. Tagalog was easier than this. She could speak _that_ perfectly.

The girl raised an eyebrow in open confusion, but accepted her reply. Pacified, she smiled. Removing her hand, she bent over to reach for the apples that had fallen. Katy now noticed the brown paper bag in her other arm. There was a slight tear where there were some groceries instead. Quickly connecting the dots, she realized they bumped into one another for the bag to rip and the apples to fall. Without another thought she started helping the girl pick up her apples.

The girl said something Katy didn't understand at all. Katy ignored her, picking up the last apple as she stood. She held it out to her with a friendly apologetic smile. Just because she was in a new dimension with a different culture didn't mean she could ignore her manners. Like that perpetually annoying song from her childhood, 'a smile means friendship to everyone.' The girl stood, taking the apple with a bright smile.

"_Arigatou gozaimasu,_" she thanked.

"_Douitashi mashite,_" Katy replied after a moment's thought. With a smile she adjusted the strop of her bag once again and walked off again to quickly get away. She eventually reached the end of the street and turned into an alleyway, continuing to make turns until she was far from there.

Although she acted cool and calm, she was thoroughly embarrassed. God, was she embarrassed and nervous. Embarrassed because she was probably considered a weirdo for her appearance and clothes; nervous because the familiar/unfamiliar language scared her. All of the syllables intimidated her. Yes, for a better part of a year she spoke Japanese but she never took the time to understand the language. She was twelve years old back then! Other than being able to understand everyone with a jutsu, she didn't bother learning to speak and read Japanese on her own. The unfamiliar Japanese scared her stiff. How was she going to get to Konoha when she didn't understand anyone or knew how to read?

"I'm so going to die before I get there," Katy muttered, disheartened. Her shoulders slumped. "I might die before I get out of this city. wherever the hell I am!"

How was she going to find out where she was if she couldn't communicate with anyone? She heaved a sigh.

_Looks like I"m getting a crash course on Japanese culture. Shit._

Katy wanted to cry so badly. But, the rain would mask her tears. Even now, she felt the onslaught of tears and she sniffled. She rubbed her face, then started her trek through the city.

The city was a rather incredible place, Katy noticed while walking through the different levels. From the metal pipes lining much of the buildings, the city almost reminded her of New York City. Much of this city was made of concrete and steel just like most cities in her dimension. It was rare here to have a settlement made in such a fashion. Konoha had most of its buildings constructed with wood and hard plaster. She loved Konoha, but this place was interesting. While looking around, she noticed the city was broken up into different levels and districts. She wasn't sure how the levels were arranged. So, she ended up walking up and down stairs as she passed. Eventually, she came to a side of the city where no one would dare approach. She didn't notice that or the signs reading _Keep Out_ in Japanese hanging on a nearby fence.

Katy looked up to see where she ended up. Off in the distance she saw a taller-than-usual tower overlooking the rest of the city. A few minutes ago the rain had stopped, so she found it easier to look around. It was difficult to see anything with the rain obscuring her vision every few minutes. There was something about this tower, though, that made her feel as if she's seen it before.

_I wish I remembered more about the series and the little details. I can't remember!_ Katy thought, growling in frustration. Having never touched another _Naruto_ manga since she cane back, she forgot much of the series details. Yes, she remembered major things such as the Akatsuki and most of the characters' backgrounds. However, she couldn't remember much else. She hated herself for it. Whatever she forgot would have been useful to her now.

While she was busy looking around to see if she could remember where she was, she had another sudden feeling she was being watched. The tingling sensation racing up her spine was familiar as a gaze landed on her back. Reacting instantly, she turned on her heel half-thinking Slender Man followed her even here. Yet, she saw something much worse than Slender Man (she thought she would _never _that).

Behind her, Katy saw two tall figures-taller than her at any rate-standing nearby. It was difficult to see their faces under the conical straw hats they wore, but the pitch black coat with red clouds on it revealed their identities. She may have forgotten many things of _Naruto_, but she could never forget what the red clouds were associated with.

_Akatsuki? Here?_

What were the chances Katy would run into a few Akatsuki members here? In this random city unless...She almost smacked her forehead. _Duh! Stupid Rivera! You're in their base city! Oh, I knew this place was familiar. Its where Jiraiya met their leader!_

Now that she saw the Akatsuki here it brought back some info. The raining city, the Akatsuki...This was the place where Jiraiya met the leader of the Akatsuki as well as his end. Yet, for the life of her she couldn't remember the name of the city.

Katy had no time to dwell on those thoughts.

"Oi!" said one of the two Akatsuki members. It was the shorter of the two. He walked towards her, removing his hat in the process. Slicked back silver hair revealed itself as maniac violent eyes were targeted on her. Oh, dear. She recognized that look. The man grinned a bit too wide as he said something in rolling syllables.

Katy stared at him, wide-eyed. Each time she met a foreigner who spoke a different language from her she usually froze. Then, she would try to politely excuse herself and let someone else handle it. Now she was stuck.

"Um, _sumimasen_. Er..._Wakarimasen. Ikanakereba__ narimasen!" _she stumbled. Turning on her heel, she tried to make her escape to get away from these dangerous men. No way was she getting mixed up with _them._

Before she could make an escape, a hand surrounded her wrist. The owner of the hand yanked her back and slammed her against the wall. Katy squeaked, startled and in pain. Another left her as she stared at a too close face with violet eyes. However, his lewd grin had become sadistic.

The man said something yet again to her, pausing to hear her reply. Katy didn't understand a word he said and stayed silent. Whatever the case he mistook her silence for fear, which was pretty accurate. He glanced over his shoulder to say something to his partner, the taller man. Said man replied in a deep, short tone full of impatience, irritation, and reluctant agreement. Just because Katy didn't understand a language didn't mean she couldn't read tone and body language. It was how she managed to understand the Filipino TV dramas her mother loved knowing only half the language. She couldn't speak full Tagalog and missed some phrases, but tone and body language told her the rest of the story. Because of that, she knew she should suddenly fear for her life if there was a reluctant agreement.

Her fears were assured when the man in front of her let out a bark of laughter, cruel and promising pain. He reached behind him to take out a scythe with three blades on it attached to a coil leading to his waist. He raised it into the air.

In a few instances in her life Katy was always scared stiff when confronting death. It was a natural reaction for those who have never experienced life or death situations before. However, because of the absurd amount of times she's been in such situations, she learned how to snap out of it faster and react to her fight-or-flight instinct. As such she chose flight.

Before the man could swing his scythe down at her, Katy pushed the man off her with all her might while lifting her wedged foot to stomp on the man's open toes as hard as she could Yelping and cursing out in surprise rather than pain, the man stumbled back. Before he could retaliate, she raised the same foot to kick him in a place most men hate.

He doubled over. The moment he did Katy quickly put some distance between them, yet she was close to his partner. Glancing nervously at the taller man, she saw he was chuckling at the man's pain. He made no indication he was going to attack her. Instead, he said something to the other man, further enraging him. Since he wasn't paying her any attention, Katy decided to get out of there while she could. She slipped off her wedges (to be able to run without tripping), turned around, and quickly speed walked down the street to get as far away from these two as she could.

All thoughts of escape fled from her thoughts the moment she heard an enraged yell behind her. Glancing over her shoulder, she saw a flash of steel. One thing she gained from a couple self-defense lessons Sasuke gave her when she was here was to learn how to react and dodge. With her size she wasn't good for anything except that. Those skills were further refined when she had to start playing her gym teacher's favorite game, dodgeball, upon entering high school. So, she managed to duck her head in time for the scythe thrown at her to sail over her head, clipping a few strands of her hair. She was forced to push herself towards the wall as the scythe was retracted. She whirled back around to see the first man's face twisted in fury but the sadistic grin had grown wider, eyes glazed in blood lust. Oh, no.

He gripped his scythe once more. Yelling a battle cry, he charged at her.

Katy began to panic. She didn't know what to do in this kind of situation. No way was she going to win at short-range combat! She needed a distraction! Her brain scrambled for one buried in the depths of her memories and pulled it up. Automatically, she dropped her shoes and began to weave hand seals she hasn't used in years. Although she was frightened to death, she managed to get to the last seal as the man was nearly in front of her.

A familiar wave of energy surged through her, going up her throat and into her mouth. It gathered until it was a bubble of energy ready to burst. She blew out. immediately, a giant ball of fire spewed from her mouth to nearly engulf most of the alleyway. The man had no time to dodge as he took the brunt of the attack head-on.

Katy quickly cut off the jutsu, turning on her heel to get out of there. Gasping from the overexertion of chakra she hasn't used in a very long time, she tried to escape this time. Keyword: tried. Before she could do anything but take a step, something tight wrapped around one of her ankles and lifted her into the air upside-down.

She gave a shrill scream, startled to find the ground below her. Now that she was upside down she consciously gripped her dress to cover her underwear from showing. Why, oh, why did she choose that day of all days to forgo wearing shorts under her dress? She always did that when she wore casual dresses!

Looking down/up, she saw the fire had dissipated. She could see the first man had burns all over his arms and face, his cloak was seared around his sleeves and the hem. He was most likely cursing up a storm by now, though she couldn't tell. His partner stood nearby with a hand outstretched. From his sleeve, a black thread-like tentacle was the thing to wrap around her ankle.

"_Hentai!_ Let me go!" Katy yelled, face blushing furiously.

The first man stopped cursing long enough to look up at her. When he did he began to laugh. She wasn't sure what he said, but she could tell it had to do with her humiliating position.

"Hidan," said the second man. His tone was serious, which caused the first man, Hidan, to stop laughing.

"_Nanika?_"

The second man spoke to his partner about something. It obviously had to do with her as he glanced up at her with a suspicious eye. She huffed, returning the look. She didn't know why she was there or how she got there. All of it made her want to cry. Why did this always have to happen to _her?_

The second man lowered his hand. The thread-tentacle released its hold on her ankle, causing her to fall back on the ground. She gave a short scream before it turned into a groan of sharp pain as she hit the ground. She bit her lip at the dull pain settling in her shoulder where she landed. A hand latched onto her forearm, forcing her back to the feet. The hand transferred to her neck where it clenched tightly. Katy couldn't breathe as she looked up at the strange green and red eyes fearfully.

The man said something but she understood one word out of that sentence.

_Uchiha._

"Eh?!" Hidan exclaimed, surprised.

"Hmph."

_Oh, damn. Oh, damn!_ she thought. It was her eyes! Goddamnit, why did it have to be her eyes? Because of her incident three years ago, she was forced to have the eyes (or parts of the eyes) of a nearly extinct clan. And she was the only civilian on record in this entire world! Of course some people might know about her considering the one who did this to her was a former member of the Akatsuki. She suddenly had a sinking feeling in her gut. _I'm not going to like where this is going. If this guy knows who I am, there is no way this is going to turn out well for me._

That feeling was right when the second man released her throat. She was able to suck in a shuddering breath, but the next moment there was a quick movement. The hand that had wrapped around her throat had curled into a fist and jabbed her in the abdomen. All of the breath was knocked out of her lungs at the sudden pain. It hurt so much it literally knocked her lights out.

The last thing she remembered was the sharp pain and doubling over before she blacked out.

* * *

XXX

* * *

**Poor Katy! She gets knocked out a second time! Really rotten luck to run into Kakuzu and Hidan. **

**Bleh, took awhile to get this out. I had no idea how hard it would be to have characters talking without them doing that. Darn my lack of Japanese phrases! So, next chapter they'll definitely meet the rest of the Akatsuki. I swear. Though, I don't think either of them will like the next chapter. It's going to suck for them.**


	4. Prisoners

Chapter 4

Sasuke stared at the blackened iron bars in front of him, mocking him for his inability to escape. He glared at them for trapping him here when he could be home in Konoha right now. All because the Akatsuki managed to capture him. A flare of anger shot through him. It still pissed him off he managed to get captured and there was nothing he could do about it.

It has already been a few hours since he awakened in this dark, damp cell. Upon awakening his body was heavy like it was filled with lead. It was hard to move around when the rest of his body was still numb. Considering the state he was in, it was likely he was suffering from the lingering effects of the poison. He supposed sometime while he was unconscious Sasori gave him the antidote. He wasn't in any continuous pain like before. When he woke up he found himself in this cell with his hands shackled together. It must have had the seals to drain chakra because he couldn't manipulate it.

Now he was trapped with no way to break free.

Sasuke sighed through his nose, ignoring the twinge in his lungs. Even his lungs were sore because of the poison. He wasn't sure whether or not this was a terrible situation. On one hand he wasn't going to die via poison. On the other hand he was going to die torture. Because, surely, that is what the Akatsuki were going to do to him. He could take the torture. After all, Kakashi made him and Sakura take a small first hand experience with Ibiki to withstand anything should they be captured. That didn't mean he had to like it. A small pit formed in his stomach at the thought of being tortured. No one, not even Ibiki, loved to be tortured. Unless you were a masochist, of course.

_I wonder if I can perform suicide_, he pondered wearily. One thing he was taught was to decide if the information he held was important to lose his life over. A proper shinobi was loyal to his village through and through. This was what his older brother taught him. That was true, but it was a shinobi's duty to return to his family _alive_. No matter what it took. Well, he didn't have any family, but that wasn't the point. So, he shook his head at the thought of suicide._ No. It's not worth it. I'll take the torture and find a way to escape._

If he _could_ escape.

Sasuke sat pondering what his fate would be. His thoughts were interrupted by the loud creak of an iron door and loud voices. The voices came closer along with footsteps.

"Damn, this bitch is heavy!" a loud, coarse voice complained. "Why the hell do I have to carry her?"

"You're the one who wanted to sacrifice her," said another, deeper voice.

"Yeah, but _you're_ the one who said she's important!"

"Shut up before I decide to kill you."

Sasuke glanced up as the voices came into view. In the dim light the ever present and much despised cloak appeared in his vision. This time, two new people were wearing it. Who they were made him scowl. They were the ones he tried to look out for as they were the most likely to kill before asking questions. Well, all of them were, but they would ignore orders of their leader. What he found interesting was the body thrown over the shoulder of the shorter of the two. From what he could see it was a girl by the white dress and long black hair. The girl was soaking wet from the rain. They didn't so much as glance his way. As they passed Sasuke tried to see who they might have thought was important enough to capture rather than kill. Unfortunately, her hair covered most of her head and shielded any chance of seeing her face.

"Like you could," the one with slicked back silver hair, Hidan, scoffed.

"Tempt me anymore and we'll see," his partner, Kakuzu, threatened. He opened the cell across from Sasuke's. "Put her inside. We have to tell the leader about her."

Hidan unceremoniously dropped the girl onto the unforgiving ground. She unconsciously let out a small moan as she fell on her back before rolling onto her side and curling into a ball, her back turned to them.

"I still don't get why we didn't kill her. I mean, who the fuck cares about her bloodline?" Hidan questioned.

"Her bloodline is a powerful and rare one on the verge of extinction. As we know it there are only three people, including her, who are of that blood." Kakuzu closed the cell door, taking a moment to glance at Sasuke meaningfully. He glared back. "And now all three are in this city."

"Eh?" Hidan followed his line of sight. When he saw Sasuke he sneered. "I hope we get to kill both of'em. Its not like we need another bastard like Itachi."

"That is the leader's decision. Now, we need to report to him."

Without another word he walked back down the hallway.

"Fucking cheap bastard. He can't tell me what to do," Hidan cursed. Like an upset child, he stomped after his partner cursing. Not soon after came the telltale sound of a door opening and closing.

Sasuke glanced back at the girl inside the cell. From a single glance, it was obvious this girl was not a shinobi. She had no weapons nor the proper clothing to be one. It occurred to him she may have been a spy undercover, but from a gut instinct he knew that she wasn't. She was an ordinary girl.

Why would the Akatsuki want with a civilian girl? She doesn't look anything special, he thought. Honestly, it confused him. What Kakuzu said also intrigued him. He could understand a girl with a rare bloodline might be of interest to the Akatsuki. But, what for? The girl may not even know of her abilities. And what was she going in Ame? Looks like we're going to be cellmates for awhile. I'll ask her, then.

Sasuke settled in for the long wait. Despite his curiosity, he was forced to wait on the girl to awaken.

For almost an hour, he sat in silence and listened to the far off sound of falling rain. He had to ignore his grumbling stomach as he wasn't given any food. Like he would eat what they gave him. For all he knew they would poison him. So, he was left ignoring his own body's demands as well as bored out of his mind. Being a prisoner was so boring. Ugh! He wouldn't be surprised most prisoners might go insane from sheer torture. That was an excellent torture method. He got so bored he started to play the alphabet game in English with himself. He ended up using the subject of an old pastime he enjoyed back when he lived with his mother: Pokemon.

He named all the Pokemon up until he got to the letter L. As he wracked his dusty memory for a Pokemon with the letter L, he heard a groan across from him. He snapped his gaze up to the other cell to see the girl began to move.

"Itai," the girl quietly moaned. Her arms moved to wrap around her abdomen. She whined. Sasuke blinked. For some reason he had a feeling that voice was familiar. Why?

The girl lay there for a moment. Then, she sat up with another pained moan and her body tensed. She sucked in a sharp breath and turned her body around to look back towards him. With her hair still in her face and the shadows half-masking her it was still hard to tell what she looked like. Her head turned this way and that with a frantic motion. Her breath quickening into panic, she finally stopped and focused on him.

Sasuke decided it was an opportune time to quench his curiosity.

_"So you're awake,"_ he said._ "You should've stayed knocked out. They must have plans for a girl like you and let's just say its not good."_

He expected the girl to begin a rapid fire questioning or a panicked look to ask where she was. Instead, there was a still silence. The girl stared at him with an air of confusion before she spoke. Yet, the moment she opened her mouth he was startled.

_"Um, what?" _she asked in a familiar language different from that of Japanese._ "I-I'm sorry. I don't understand what you're saying."_

Sasuke tensed. No...It couldn't be. Now that she spoke in a language only one other person here in this world knew he finally recognized that voice. He nearly ran to the bars of his cell to press himself against them just to get a better look at the girl. He peered at her closely to see her move a hand to sweep her long fringe of her face. The girl was rather pretty, he noted, but he didn't notice anything but those familiar muddy red-brown eyes glinting with mischief. He gasped sharply.

"Katy?" he said in perfect English complete with the American accent._ "Dear God, Katy, is that you?"_

She jumped, startled. She crept closer to the bars where the light was. Now, he could see his best friend from two and a half years ago, Katy Rivera.

"Sasuke?" she said, uncertainly. She was surprised to see him as her eyes widened. A wide grin spread across her lips before she frowned._ "What the hell happened to you? Did you get into a fight or something? You look like hell!"_

He glanced down at himself, knowing his appearance wasn't the best. He knew he looked and felt like hell. It obviously showed.

_"This? I got into a fight with some Akatsuki members."_ He shrugged when he saw her slightly concerned look._ "Don't worry. I've had worse."_

Katy looked at him with blank eyes before cursing in realization. "_Son of a-Those damn Akatsuki members! They got you, too!"_

_"Yeah. They captured me."_

_"How? I mean, how did they get the both of us? Actually, how are we both in the base city of the Akatsuki at the same time?"_

Sasuke was astonished. "How do you-" He paused, remembering one way she knew. "_The manga?"_

_"Bingo!"_ she confirmed.

He sighed, annoyed. _"Forgot you were like that. Speaking of which, mind telling me what the fuck you're doing back here? I thought I sent you away for good?"_

Sasuke didn't understand it. He sent her back home three years ago. She couldn't have found her way back here. Her return defeated the purpose of keeping her safe, which he swore he would do.

_"So did I! I don't know how I got here. I was on my way home from school after I said bye to my friend when I got knocked out. The last thing I remember was standing in the middle of a crosswalk before I'm suddenly waking up in somewhere that's not Vegas. Don't ask_," Katy added, sensing his confusion on her example.

_"I wasn't going to. I'm confused about the friend." _He smirked in amusement._ "Seriously? You managed to make a friend without me there?"_

_"Yes, I know, I managed to make friends without you there."_

_"I admit. I am surprised. What, did you make more friends with a bunch of otakus?"_ he teased. With the way Katy was he imagined only people like that could share her nerdiness.

She scowled. _"No. Well, two of them are but the rest are normal teenagers. I made friends with them once I got into high school. They're not that bad, considering one of them was my bully. Remember Salem?"_

_"Salem Dickens?"_ Sasuke questioned, surprised. He remembered that girl. She was one of the many girls who had a crush on him. She was against Katy's friendship with him, so she began to tease the girl for having crushes on fictional characters. "_I thought you said she was the she-witch from hell._"

_"Oh, yeah. She was that until I got her addicted to anime and manga. And guess who introduced her?_" she said, smug.

_"How?"_

_"After she made a comment on my love for Sebastian Michealis in eighth grade, I told her its better to have a love for the perfect guy than be crushed by a cheating douchebag of a boyfriend."_

He smirked, imagining the tiny girl yelling at a girl taller than her. "_Then, I'm guessing you finally learned how to stand up for yourself."_

_"Hells, yeah! You should see the zoo that's High school. Girls travel in packs and they're_ mean._ Guys, well, most of'em are controlled by their junk._" She gestured at the spot between her hips. "_Some of them tried to make a move, but since you taught me I ripped them a new hole for trying. But, there are two guys I couldn't handle. Damn, Akatsuki."_

_"What? What did they do?" _he asked, his hackles raising. Fuck. She lifted her foot to look at her ankle. He tried not to look at her waist as her dress skirt rose up to let blue fabric tease him. He flushed at angry red circle encompassing her ankle. He cursed._ "You really are a trouble magnet. Not even here for a day and that happens. What happened?"_

_"I don't know! I was wandering around the city to check if I could find a way back to Konoha when those two Akatsuki guys found me. The next thing I know that one guy, Hidan, attacks me. I tried to defend myself and run but that other guy used his thread-tentacle-thingies to capture me. He must've figured out I was Orochimaru's Uchiha experiment because he knocked me out. Now, here I am." _She blew a piece of her hair out of her face._ "So, what's your excuse? What are you doing here?"_

"_S-classed mission to get information about the Akatsuki. I was tailing two other Akatsuki members when they found out I was following them. We got into a fight as I tried to escape. Obviously, it didn't work out so well."_

"_S-classed? I thought you had to be a jounin or something to get that kind of mission rank_," Katy said. He noticed she was hesitant to say the word 'jounin' as if she wasn't sure what that was. Hm...

_"How else do you think I got it?" _he stated, smirking. He pointed at himself._ "I got the rank of jounin just a couple months ago. This was my second S-ranked mission."_

She gave an impressed whistle._ "Well, well. Look at you, hotshot. You're moving up in the world. Last time I remember you were still trying to breath fire out of your mouth. Now, you're going around taking dangerous jobs. Good for you. Think you can use your new mad skills to get us out of whatever city this is?"_

Sasuke narrowed his eyes at her. Something was really starting to bother him. Katy seemed really confused about where they were or some other things. He would have understood she would not know how much things have changed since they decided to mess with this world, but this world was a form of entertainment in her's. She should have known everything and anything about this place. Why did she act like this was the first time she was seeing everything? Unless...

"Katy, _what's the name of this city?_" he questioned.

"Eh?"

_"City. Name. What is it?"_

_"I...don't know?"_

_"What do you mean you don't know? I thought you read the manga? Don't you remember this is Amegakure? The place where Jiraiya died?"_ Sasuke still remembered much of the manga events. He had to if he wanted to change major components of what could potentially be a horrible future.

"Uh..." She bit her lip and awkwardly looked away. _"Not...Really? Sorry, I can't remember. It's been awhile since I picked up a Naruto manga. Too many memories._"

He sighed. That explained it. "_I wouldn't blame you. I sent you away when you were dying. Did it get any better?_"

"_The sepsis? Yeah, a little. I was in the hospital for about a month, but after some medicine and rest I got better. Though, I have to be careful where I cut myself. They said I'm prone to infections now._"

Sasuke nodded. It was a relief to hear she was okay. When he first heard she had Sepsis he was beside himself with worry. It was because of her illness he was forced to send her away no matter how heartbreaking it was. Seeing her here, alive and well, was a great relief to him. His relief ended as he thought of something.

"_Do you know anything about who the Akatsuki leader is and what they are planning to do with the Bijuu? I remember something about how he killed Jiraiya in the series, but that's it._"

"_Oh, and I'm the forgetful one," _she mocked. She sighed._ "No. I heard from my friends something about a Nagato and something concerning the Rin'negan. But that's as much as I know._"

He cursed. That wasn't as reassuring as he thought considering what might happen to him.

"_I'm going to die for nothing, then!"_

_"D-Die?! What are you talking about?_" Katy asked, nervously.

Sasuke stared at her with a blank expression, trying to reign in his small fear forming in the pit of his stomach. "_T__hose who are captured by the Akatsuki never return alive. I tried to get information from them. To protect their secrets they are going to kill me_."

Katy gasped in horror. He wouldn't blame her. That was the sad truth of becoming a shinobi. They were expected to lay their lives down for the sake of their village. His life didn't matter when it came to protecting his home. It was something he accepted, but would never understand.

The sound of a door opening squeaked through the dank hall. Sasuke and Katy grew silent as footsteps came nearer and nearer to their cells. They peeked up to see one of the very men who captured Sasuke. He glared at Deidara, who was the cause of several of his injuries. He had a disgruntled expression on his face. He was muttering to himself.

"Damn it. Why do I have to do all the work? Make the idiot do it, yeah."

Deidara glanced at Katy briefly, then sneered at Sasuke.

"So, little Uchiha. Any last words before we decide to kill you, hm?" he taunted.

Sasuke said nothing in reply, eyes blazing in defiance. Like he was going to say anything to this dickwad. His last words to him would be have in hell. Deidara was disappointed by the lack of response, somehow. Did he enjoy getting responses out of him and possibly his brother? He pulled out a pair of keys from his cloak and stuck one in the cell of Katy's cell.

"Tobi! Get the girl and take her back to Leader. I'll get the Uchiha," he ordered over his shoulder.

"Okay, senpai!" came a chirped reply.

The owner of the voice came into view beside him. It turned out to be a man wearing an orange mask. With the mask in the way Sasuke could only get one significant information out of it: he wasn't wearing an Akatsuki cloak. Once the door to Katy's cell opened he practically skipped over to Katy. She backed away in fear.

"Hey, hey! Don't worry, miss. I'm not gonna do anything bad to you," the masked man said in a ridiculously childish voice. He had his hands raised up in defense as a way to calm her down. Unfortunately for him, Katy didn't seem to understand him at all. She stared up at him with wide, fearful eyes. The man tilted his head and looked over his shoulder. "Um, Senpai? She doesn't look like she's gonna move. What do I do? I don't wanna hurt her."

"Oh, for the love of-Here!" Deidara growled in irritation, shoving the keys to the man. He stalked forward to Katy, snatching her by the wrist and pulling her up. Gasping, Katy was shoved to the man.

"Senpai!" cried the man in an outraged voice.

"Idiot. You're too soft," the teen said. He took back the keys to open Sasuke's cell door. He grabbed Sasuke's chained wrists and shoved him forward to walk down the hallway. Sasuke glared at him over his shoulder, but moved.

"Sorry," he heard the masked man say. By the sound of the footsteps, he had Katy with him. She was the only one whose footsteps were skin slapping against cement. Silence fell among them as Sasuke was forced through a metal door at the end of the narrow hallway. Most likely Sasuke's last walk before he greets his death.

_No, I won't die here_, Sasuke thought, determined. He's lived this long through diligent training. He wasn't going to die here. Not when he had Katy to consider now. There was no way he was leaving his friend here to fend for herself. He swore to protect her and he'd be damned to break it now.

The two Akatsuki members led the two of them through stone hallways. Pipes snaked along the walls each dripping water. A chill settled through his body further making him freeze from the inside. He was sure he was still in Ame by the tinkling rain beating gently against the walls. Inside the smell of rain, he could only smell...food? Strange. It was coming from nearby.

Deidara turned to an open doorway where voices drifted in conversation. It sounded much like when he would have dinner with his friends and everyone was talking at the same time.

"Hey, we got'em, hm," Deidara called out, shoving Sasuke in. He walked in after him.

Sasuke stumbled into a somewhat large meeting room. The walls were bare except for a few lights attached to them. From what he could see a group of eight were gathered in a half-circle. He recognized one of them, but tried to ignore him. The moment he came through all eyes turned on him, silence falling once more. If he were a lesser man, Sasuke would have been terrified to find himself in a room filled with S-ranked criminals who could tear him to shreds in a second. He was seriously outnumbered. But, he's faced Naruto several dozen times and their fights were almost escalating to city-damaging. The last time they fought seriously they almost killed each other while taking out a good portion of a training ground. So, the Akatsuki didn't scare him as much as he thought.

One man with spiky orange hair with piercings on his face stood.

"Are these the Uchiha found within the city?" he asked Deidara.

"Yes, sir. The boy's the one me and Danna found. The girl's the one Kakuzu and Hidan ran into, yeah," Deidara answered, humbly. This was new. At least the stupid overconfident bomber wasn't so confident in the face of his leader, whom Sasuke recognized.

The leader then turned to Sasuke, cold ringed eyes evaluating him silently.

"What information have you gathered so far?" he demanded. It raised the hairs on the back of Sasuke's neck. He could practically sense all of the power this man held over him now.

Despite his newfound fear for this man, Sasuke's lips thinned, refusing to say anything.

"Hmph," breathed Pain. He turned his attention to Katy just nearby standing next to the masked man (why couldn't Sasuke remember his name?). She froze when she was looking into ringed eyes. "Who are you and why are you here in this city?"

Katy stared back at him, astonished. It was obvious she didn't understand a word he said. When she didn't respond he asked the same thing in a more demanding tone. Because of that tone, she was forced to open her mouth.

"_I-I don't...I can't..._" she stuttered, wincing how she was still speaking in English.

It was really pitiful to see Katy getting all flustered. Even with her tan skin, he could tell she was blushing furiously. So, he decided to take pity on her.

"_He's asking-_" Sasuke started to say. He was cut off when the blond bomber idiot punched Sasuke. Katy squeaked at the abuse he took.

"Shut up! You're not allowed to speak, yeah," Deidara hissed.

Sasuke went silent, shooting an apologetic look to Katy. Looks like she was on her own. She looked back almost about to cry from the sheer embarrassment of not understanding anything. Poor girl.

"I will ask you once more," said Pain. He stepped closer to Katy, towering over her. "Who are you and what is your business here?"

Katy shivered in fear, glancing at almost everything and anything that wasn't the powerful man in front of her. Several times she opened her mouth only to close it. Finally, she spoke.

"B-Boku no..." Katy scrambled to think of the proper words. Sasuke wanted to smack his forehead. She was speaking in the wrong tense! Almost everyone except her realized this. She smacked her head. "_Shit! What was the proper way to say it?_"

"_You do know you are speaking in an informal male tense, correct_?" said a deep voice to the side. One Sasuke was well familiar with. "_The way to introduce yourself in female tense is _Watashi no namae wa._ You only use '_Boku no'_ when you speak to a familiar person and if you are male._"

Katy's jaw dropped as she turned to the one who spoke in her language. Sasuke tried not to look at his older brother, Itachi Uchiha. He was speaking in perfect (but heavily accented) English. Everyone else stared at him.

_"What the hell? You can understand me?" _she asked incredulously.

_"Somewhat."_

_"But-But how-" _Her face lit up with realization. She cast a glare towards Sasuke._ "You didn't."_

He tilted his head to the side as if innocently asking, 'Who, me?' On the inside Sasuke was smirking. When he was thirteen he told Itachi the whole truth of where he has been from the age of seven and up. Itachi was intrigued with the world he lived in and asked him many questions, including the language. Itachi often visited the village to check up on him, so it was during those visits Sasuke taught him how to speak English using the few school textbooks left from Katy's world. Itachi picked up on the language pretty quickly and could speak it clearly albeit with an accent. They were still trying to work on that.

"_You...! He knows?!_" Katy exclaimed in disbelief.

Itachi nodded.

She groaned. "_Great. The guy who tried to kill me knows the truth. Thank you, Sasuke. You suck."_

_"I apologize for what happened previously. I was trying to keep up appearances as you well know_," he said, gesturing to the other Akatsuki members. Most were looking on in confusion. Pain was glaring at Itachi. Itachi pretended not to notice. "_As you must know I had to do several things so my younger brother would not be used as a weapon or pawn._"

"_Yeah, but I thought you were a pacifist! You held me knife-point and made him remember the worst memory of his short life!_" She pointed at Sasuke. He frowned. He really didn't want to be involved in her conversation.

"_I was required to do it. It would have been suspicious if I simply let you go_," Itachi argued.

_"Yeah, but-Ugh!" _She growled in frustration, throwing her arms up dramatically. Several people chuckled at her._ "It's official. Itachi Uchiha, you are the single most devoted person I have EVER met in my life. Quite frankly, I find that_ irritating!_ God, no wonder so many still love you. Too bad they don't actually_ know_ you like I do. You made me_ hate you_ and you used to be my favorite character up until you held a shiny, sharp knife to my throat. To that, I say_ SCREW YOU!"

She huffed, folding her arms. Sasuke rolled his eyes. What a drama queen.

During her rant, Itachi raised a quizzical eyebrow.

_"My little brother was not jesting when he said you were...energetic," _he commented._ "You are quite outspoken for someone who is in this sort of situation."_

_"Fuck off, douchebag! I don't want to know what kind of things Sasuke said about me," _she hissed back, throwing a dark look towards Sasuke. It made Sasuke want to laugh. Here she was in a delicate situation with her life on the line and she throws a hissy fit. God, he missed her_. "And just so you know, if you tell my name to Mr. Tall, Dark, and Scary over there, my name is Kioshi Uchiha. I'm not letting any of you bozos call me by my real name. Only Sasuke's allowed."_

"It seems you understand what this girl is saying," Pain said, like they knew they were talking about him. "If so, what is her name?"

"Her name is Uchiha Kioshi," Itachi said, switching back to Japanese.

"So, it's true! She's that little girl we ran into a few years back," Kisame commented. He gave a sharp-toothed grin towards Katy, who took a step back. It appeared vicious. "Heh. I remember her. She managed to dupe the both of us with a smoke bomb. We underestimated her."

"Ah, so this is the girl who managed to stop your retrieval of the Kyuubi's Jinchurriki," Sasori said. He eyed Katy with a curious gleam.

"That was her? How the hell did she do that? She doesn't look like she can do anything, yeah," Deidara stated.

Sasuke noticed when both Sasori and Deidara spoke Katy flushed a bit. A small grin curved her lips. Oh, no. There was her fangirl side coming out. Good to know there was still THAT side of her.

"Indeed. But, she is rather resourceful," Kakuzu said. He jerked his head at Hidan. "She may not appear so, but she is capable to using jutsu. After all, she managed to get this idiot off guard and burn him."

"Oh, shut the fuck up! I thought she'd be an easy catch!" Hidan growled. He glared at Katy with a bloodthirsty look in his eyes. "So, am I allowed to sacrifice her to Jashin? I'd like to get some payback on that little bitch."

"We shall see," Pain vaguely stated. "Itachi, ask her what her business here is. I would like to know why she suddenly appeared in this city when she has not been seen for a few years."

"Yes, Leader." Itachi turned back to Katy with a slight frown. "Kioshi, would you tell me how you appeared back in this dimension? From what Sasuke told me, he sent you back after you rescued him from Orochimaru's men."

"_I...have no idea_," Katy answered, licking her lips. Her hands bunched her skirt where she was clutching them. "_Look, Itachi. I really don't know how I ended up back here. I was walking home from school when I almost got hit back a car. I don't know what happened from there, because I got knocked out and suddenly I'm waking up here. I really,_ really_ don't know what I'm doing back here because I never wanted to come back here and oh, my god, I'm going to make my mom worry again and I'm gonna die here-_"

"_Wait, you almost got hit by a_ car?" Sasuke exclaimed, surprising the rest of the Akatsuki. They didn't seem to realize he could understand what they were both saying until now._ "What the hell! You told me you were knocked out!"_

_"I didn't want to worry you! Besides, it's not like I died!"_

_"But, you could've!"_

_"And this is the reason why I didn't tell you," _she muttered. She sighed._ "Sasuke, we've got more important things to worry about. Almost getting hit by a car is the least of our worries. Speaking of which..." _She turned to Itachi with a slight frown._ "Itachi, are they really going to kill Sasuke because he knows too much?"_

Itachi hesitated before he nodded.

"_You'd let that happen?"_

_"Of course not. I kept him alive all these years. It would be pointless to let him die now. Although, I did not know how to keep him alive." _His eyes suddenly glinted with a strange light_. "Hm...I think I have an idea."_

"_Oh, no. I recognize that look when Sasuke has a bad idea for me,_" she gulped.

Sasuke had to agree. Itachi had the same look in his eyes when Sasuke would give Katy's ideas-ones that normally were bad for her in general. It was eeire to see that look reflected in someone else. Being brothers, he supposed it was expected. Who knows? Maybe Itachi was the one to teach him that. It certainly did not help when he smirked.

"_I do not know what you mean._" He ended the conversation between them before addressing the curious Pain. "Leader, she has not said what her business is within the city. But, I have a suggestion as to what we do with her."

"Oh?" he uttered, inquisitively.

"Yes. As you know Kioshi Uchiha is Orochimaru's attempt to possibly use the Uchiha blood to obtain the perfect body. Because of this, I suggest we keep Kioshi. She may prove useful to us if given the proper training," he suggested. "We should also keep Sasuke to hold leverage against Konoha. We force both of them to work for the Akatsuki."

"What?!" several members of the Akatsuki exclaimed. Sasuke couldn't stop his jaw from joining the rest. He didn't know what to say to that. When he realized his jaw was hanging he closed it and glared at his 'older brother' in pure hatred. What was he doing? Why would he suggest that?

"Why thehell would we want them working for us? What's the fucking point!?" Hidan burst out.

"Yeah! I don't want anymore Uchiha scum around," Deidara hissed, throwing a dark look at Katy and Sasuke. Sasuke returned the look while Katy was unsure of what anyone was saying, least of all Deidara.

Everyone began to talk at the same time. Katy's head whipped side to side trying to understand the conversation around her. All of these voices must have been confusing her.

"Silence!" Pain barked.

Upon command they stopped. He turned to Katy, examining her once more. He must have understood Katy did not know their language, because he made a gesture for her to approach him. Sasuke could see the fear reflecting in her wide eyes as if to say, "Come near the scary man? HELL NO!" She was so scared and reluctant Itachi eventually had to nudge her. He gritted his teeth. He was using Katy's ignorance against her. She didn't know what was going on and he was taking advantage of that, the traitor!

Katy hesitantly took four shaking steps towards Pain. Stopping in front of him, she held her head down to avoid looking at him in the eyes. She didn't have much of a choice when Pain grabbed her chin and tilted it up, forcing her to face him. The two stared at one another-one in absolute fear and the other scrutinizing. He suddenly hummed in...satisfaction? He examined her for a moment more before releasing her.

No longer in contact, Katy reeled back towards Itachi. She hid herself behind him, clutching the back of his cloak. Yup. She was terrified. Several members snickered at her weak display.

"I have decided," Pain stated. "We shall keep both Kioshi and Sasuke Uchiha here and have them work for us. As our servants."

_No! _Sasuke yelled internally. That was a fate worse than death! He would never work for these bastards! He might want to, but he was sure he couldn't kill himself before he worked for them. He would be leaving Katy behind where they would do as they pleased with her. There was no way in Hell he was leaving her to fend for herself. Itachi knew that! God, no wonder he suggested they keep them. His anger that had been building up since Itachi's suggestion finally met its breaking point.

"_ You evil bastard! I hate you_!" he cursed at Itachi violently.

_"Um, I'm a bit lost. What's going on?" _Katy questioned, frightened.

_"My dear_ brother _told Pain because you're Orochimaru's Uchiha experiment you might be useful to them with training. Then, he said they keep me to hold leverage against Konoha and make us work for them in exchange of our lives. As damn_ slaves."

"_I said no such thing. That was Leader's suggestion_," Itachi corrected.

"_Like I care! You sold us out, you fucking bastard! You know I'd do anything to keep Katy safe. Even work for _them." He glared venomously at all of the Akatsuki members as if they ruined his life. A few returned the look.

_"Okay, no. Pain's not that merciful," _she said, wearily.

_"Yet, he agreed to it just now."_

Katy looked at Itachi as if he just killed her cat and threw it in the garbage. She backed away from him, both furious and scared. She dramatically pointed a finger at him, a betrayed look in her eyes.

"_You sell out! I can't believe you said that! No wonder Sasuke hates you so much in the series. Now I know what he felt like during the massacre._"

"_Both of you are never going to let it go, are you?_" Itachi sighed, mildly annoyed.

"_Itachi, you killed our family. Do you think I would ever let it go_?" Sasuke responded in kind.

"_I apologized three years ago._"

"_Yeah, apologizing won't really let me forget something like_ killing our family._ Oh, wait! You_ did_ make me forget! Along with seven years of my life I _still _can't remembe_r!"

Sasuke would be lying if he said he didn't notice the guilt and hurt flashing through Itachi's eyes before they vanished the next second. Katy couldn't ignore it and she punched him on the arm.

"_Low blow, Sasuke. That's such a dick thing so say._"

He clicked his tongue, looking away from both of them. He was so angry at Itachi for doing this to him he couldn't help but say something to hurt him. It was a habit he had when Naruto gets him mad. He would say awful things he normally wouldn't say and it hurt everyone around him. He tried to reign in his temper. If he said the wrong thing to the Akatsuki, they might very well kill him.

"_Oh. That is right. I almost forgot_," Itachi suddenly said. He made a few hand seals before abruptly poking Katy on the forehead. She yelped, stumbling back and with a hand on the new bruise in the middle of her forehead.

"Ow! Ow! Did you just poke me on the head? Do that with Sasuke, not-" Katy halted, realizing the words coming out of her mouth. The conversation around her stopped to leave silence. Her hand moved from her forehead to her mouth. She stared at the ground with wide eyes before removing her hand and said, "I'm speaking another language."

"Oh, good! Now we don't have to wonder what the fuck she's been saying," Hidan said sarcastically.

"I wish I didn't have to wonder what you were saying. Do you kiss women with that mouth? Weren't you taught to not curse around a lady?" she retorted.

"What lady? All I see is a whore dressed in white." He made a show of leering at Katy's appearance. Sasuke grimaced at her once-white dress. As she was still wet, the dress stuck to Katy in ways that left little to the imagination.

Her cheeks heated. She slid behind Itachi once more to hide from wandering gazes. When Hidan mentioned it Deidara had eyed her curiously. One more reason why Sasuke wanted to kill him.

"It's-It's not my fault! How was I supposed to know rain and dresses didn't mix?"

"Appearances are deceiving. You aren't as smart as I originally thought," Sasori commented, dryly.

"Ouch. You guys _are_ evil." She tugged on Itachi's sleeve with a pout. Sasuke almost wanted to laugh at the sight of it. "Big brother, they're being mean to me! Make'em stop!"

Itachi stared at her blankly. "I'm not your brother."

"Well, yeah. I'm like your ancestor in a sense. Call you brother makes this whole relation thing a bit easier."

"I'm still not your brother."

"I have to whine to someone! I'd whine to Sasuke, but he's a bit tied up now. By the way, that's kinda kinky."

"No! No, we're not going down that line," Sasuke protested. Oh, God. Here was another thing he almost forgot about her. Despite her innocent appearance, she was a devil in disguise.

"What line?" Katy asked innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about. Unless..." She gasped and gave him a mocking scolding look. "_Sasuke! How dare you! Do you honestly think I'd be imagining you being ravished and taken in the most brutal way by someone and that someone happens to be Naruto? Even I'm not_ that_ sick! You know I prefer it when they're willing!"_

He really wished his hands were free. If only to give his eyes and ears from the pure imagery she was putting into his head. Why couldn't she have been as innocent as she looked? As it was, he was certain his face was an entire bright red. He couldn't help it. Hearing such things were so embarrassing and disturbing.

"_Your imagination scares me,_" Itachi deadpanned, glaring down at her. But, his own face was pink. Most likely from being forced to imagine it as well.

Kisame laughed. "Okay, whatever she just said must have been funny. If she can make two stoic Uchiha blush, it must have been bad. I knew I liked her."

"I live to please and annoy any and all Uchiha. It's a talent of mine, you see," Katy joked, lightly.

"I find it strange you are taking this quite lightly in your situation," said a feminine voice.

Sasuke's head snapped to the voice to see it was Pain's partner who had spoken. Konan, he believed her name was. He would be lying if he said the woman wasn't beautiful. But, her amber eyes held no warmth despite the amused smile on her lips.

"Oh, I'm taking this very badly. Right now, I'm screaming in utter despair and cursing the gods on the inside for my new predicament. It's such a shame you can't hear it," Katy replied back in the same tone. It dropped when she saw Hidan hold out his scythe with a sadistic grin.

"I'm sure I'll hear it very soon when I'm finished with you, bitch."

"Hidan." Once again, Sasuke was amazed by the power Pain held over his underlings (Yes, he imagined Pain called the Akatsuki his underlings). One stern glare and even a vicious killer like Hidan would cower before him. He wished he had such an ability. It would have been useful to use against Naruto. "You are not to bring harm to her or Sasuke Uchiha. They will be working for us, and it would not be in our best interest to incapacitate them."

"Yeah! I don't want such a cute girl like Kioshi to get hurt! You'd be bullying her and bullying isn't nice!" the masked man chirped in a scolding but childish tone. He waggled his finger at Hidan. "You've gotta be nice to her! Or Mr. Pain's gonna get really angry!"

"Shut the fuck up! You're not a member so you can't tell me what shit I can or can't do!" Hidan growled.

"Ooh, scary!" He comically shivered and hid behind Deidara, who happened to be much shorter than him. It was quite funny when Sasuke thought about it. "Senpai, make him stop!"

"Like Hell I will! Get away from me, hm!" Deidara cursed, stepping away from the childish man. But, he had grabbed Deidara's arm and refused to let go no matter how many times Deidara tried to get rid of him. "Tobi! Let me go!"

"But, Senpai!"

Sasuke found himself groaning. If this is what he was going to endure everyday as he worked for them, he was sure he wasn't going to enjoy his time with the Akatsuki. He wished someone would kill him. And by look of the wrinkled nose on Katy, she shared his sentiments.

He kissed his semi-normal life goodbye and silently resigned himself to this new one, certain it was for the worse.


End file.
